


Penumbra

by Tesvyn



Category: Doctor Who, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Adoption, Alternate Universe, Child Harry Potter, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dementors, Department of Mysteries, Dogs, Kidnapping, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Quidditch, Runes, Time Lord Harry Potter, Time Tots | Babies (Doctor Who), Veritaserum
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:20:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23685304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tesvyn/pseuds/Tesvyn
Summary: It's not everyday that you find out that you're actually an alien, and that you were accidentally kidnapped as a baby by the Department of Mysteries. At this point however, Harry's not really surprised.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 11
Kudos: 288





	1. Chapter 1

It was a rather busy day in the Department of Mysteries, Unspeakables drifted from chamber to chamber, all doing various forms of research or experiments.

Three figures stood in one such chamber, all surrounding an odd-looking device on a table, these three were searching for ways to explore other planets, without the need for muggle spacecraft.

They had been looking into this for many, many years, dating back to the 1800s, where the first known attempt was created, resulting in what is now known as the veil of death.

Other documented attempts included the Floo travel, Portkeys, and even Apparition, all of which failed their intended purpose.

One of the figures stepped up to the device, this person was Lily Potter, or Agent Potter, a young and extremely talented young woman, who had joined the ranks of the Unspeakables right out of Hogwarts.

She placed her hands on either side of the device, channelling her magic into it, she was to concentrate on finding a planet, one with life on it that they could either make contact with or perhaps pass through and explore.

As her concentration was kept by the device, the two other Agents worked to keep the device steady.

One of the other two Agents was a man in his mid-thirties, known as Agent Fortescue, his eyes grew wide as silver tendrils grew and span in a rapid dance.

"It's working!" he called, over the wind created from the energy.

The two snapped some bars up from the side of the device and the silver light grew around them, creating a gap.

They peered into the gap, before quickly averting their eyes as the light grew too strong to look at.

As the light grew, the two heard screaming, followed by a loud bang which threw all three of them off their feet and back into the walls.

"Is everyone alright?" Agent Potter questioned once she'd pulled herself together.

"Yeah."

"Yes, Potter, I'm alright."

"Good, now, I don't think the calibration was exactly corr-" her words were cut off as the three of them heard something which sounded suspiciously like a baby's cry from where the device was.

Agent Fortescue hesitantly walked over and froze at the sight.

Thereupon the device lay what appeared to be a baby boy with black hair and green eyes.

"Shit."

**_‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers,_ **

The three agents of the Department of Mysteries quickly took the baby to their medical team, after all, who knew what it could have picked up from being dragged through a highly unstable portal.

The child was easy to distract, especially after Agent Fortescue had transfigured a pillow into a stuffed dog.

The medical team worked quickly and found some rather, interesting things about the baby.

"He's not human?" Lily asked incredulously.

"Well, unless humans have two hearts, what appears to be an extra breathing system, and what I can only describe as _orange-tinted blood,_ I'm going to have to say that it is not a human."

Lily Potter looked over at the small child who _appeared_ to be about six months old, he was crawling about inside a toddler pen which had been transfigured by one of the mothers that worked there.

"Agent Potter, there is something else." the healer spoke, almost hesitantly.

"What is it?"

"You said he was dragged through a magical portal, yes?"

"Yes."

"His body appears to have absorbed some of that magic," he spoke nervously.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if he was, for example, a muggle before, he's not now."

She looked at the healer for a minute or so, watching as he squirmed, looking at anywhere but her.

"So, you're saying he's a magical alien baby?"

"Pretty much."

Lily rested her head in her hands and groaned, causing said magical alien baby to giggle.

**_That perches in the soul,_ **

"James, I need to talk to you."

A young man of twenty walked into the living room from the kitchen, watching as his wife sat down, staring at the thing she had in her arms in alarm.

"Lily, what is this?" he asked nervously.

"There was an accident at work, we ah..." she trailed off, not knowing how to word her thoughts correctly.

Seeing the distress his wife was in, he sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, and giving them a squeeze.

"Before you start that, why not tell me the name of this little man?" he asked, poking the finger of his free hand at the cheek of the child she'd bought home, giving a lopsided grin as he grabbed onto it with his tiny hands.

"That's the thing, James, I don't, _we don't_ know." she sighed, looking down at the child. "I can't talk about what we were doing, but," a look of guilt passed over her face and she looked away from the child.

"Lily, love?"

"We kidnapped him."

A moment of silence passed as James took in what she'd said.

_"Come again?"_

"We _kidnapped him,_ James, it was an accident, but we took him away from his home and his family. Dear _god_ James, his parents must be _worried sick!"_

He hugged his hysterical wife, mindful of the baby still on her lap.

They sat there for a moment, as she calmed down before they parted.

"Better?"

She nodded and they sat in the silence for a moment longer, watching as the baby looked around at the things in the room.

"We're going to work on trying to send him back home, but he needed a place to stay until then, and possibly even after then, if we can't get him home," she whispered.

"And you offered because we've been looking into adopting anyways?" he questioned teasingly.

"Well, I thought, even if we can't keep him, it'd be good practice for when we do adopt, we can see if we have the correct temperament's for a child," she spoke, a wobbling grin overtaking her face.

He beamed at her, before bending down and pecking her lips, laughing as he pulled back and saw her red face.

He got up off the sofa and picked up the child, heading up the stairs.

"Well, we're going to need some baby stuff, such as a crib, we can transfigure one for tonight, but we're going to need a more permanent solution for any night after then," Lily followed the rambling man with an adoring smile, watching as he looked down at the boy he was carrying. "But first, you're going to need a name, I can't keep calling you 'child' now, can I?" he asked, poking the boy's nose.

"How about Harry?" she suggested.

"Harry, I like it, what about you?" he questioned the child, who just giggled in response.

"Harry it is then."

**_And sings the tune without the words,_ **

Sirius Black, Auror and best friend of James Potter entered the cottage that his friend and his wife owned.

"I'm here!" he announced, shutting the door as he went.

A noise caused him to pause in the hallway, a noise that sounded suspiciously like a baby laughing.

With wide eyes, Sirius made his way into the living room, staring at the scene in front of him in light surprise.

James and Lily were sat on the floor, playing peek-a-boo with a very young child, if he hadn't known any better, he would have said that the child was biologically theirs.

"Babysitting?" he questioned, throwing his jacket over the back of one of the sofas and draping himself over it.

"Ah, no, this is Harry, we're, ah..." Lily trailed off.

"Fostering him," James finished for her, remembering her guilt from the previous night.

Lily smiled at him in relief. "That's right, we're fostering him. At least until we find his parents."

"And if you don't?" he asked, watching the baby start to crawl around on the floor as he lost interest in the chattering adults.

"We'll adopt him," James said, picking up the squirming child and placing him into Sirius' lap. "Harry, this is Padfoot, he's silly and can turn into a dog," he said while pointing to the man in question.

Harry looked at him with eyes far more intelligent than what he would expect of a baby of what looked to be around six months old.

He cocked his head to the side and Harry copied, much like an interested puppy.

"Pa'foo?" he asked, looking at the man's face.

The three adults in the room stared at him in amazement.

Sirius chuckled, " _Damn,_ that is one smart kid."

**_And never stops, at all,_ **

It had been six months of endless attempts at getting the portal to reopen to the place where little Harry had been taken from to no avail.

Harry was stuck.

James and Lily both sat at a large desk inside an office located in the Department of Mysteries, Harry had been taken away for a medical check-up, or as accurate to one as they could get.

"Have you decided if you're going to keep him?" the Director of the Department of Mysteries questioned them, the man's identity was unknown, even to the Agents that worked there.

"Yes," James spoke, coughing slightly when their attention was on him, "I think we'd like to adopt him."

Lily smiled at him, before turning her attention back to the man behind the desk.

"And have you figured out a way to sort his little ageing problem?"

"What ageing problem?" James questioned with a look of confusion on his face.

"Our medical team have reason to believe that whatever his species is, they physically age slower than human children," he paused for a moment, pushing a stapler across the table with a pen, before continuing. "If you've noticed, he still appears to be six months old when he is at least a year old now."

James' mouth fell open and he looked back and forth between the two. He slowly shut it at their serious looks.

"I have thought about it," Lily waited until their attention was on her before continuing, "I thought a necklace with a runic glamour pattern would be a good idea, but I didn't want to make it and have it malfunction once I put it on him."

"Runic glamour what?" James questioned as the Director nodded from where he was sat.

"Then you were on the same wavelength as the rest of the Department," he opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a mahogany box.

Setting it on the desk, he pried the lid off, revealing a silver chain, with a medallion that looked a lot like a dog tag dangling from it. The medallion was covered in elegant runic engravings and had a small emerald embedded in it.

"This has been tested and is deemed safe for use, once it is put on him, no-one will be able to take it off apart from him."

"And this will make it so he appears to age like a human?" James questioned.

The Director looked at him with amusement and stood up, picking the box up with him.

"Let's deliver this to our favourite non-human, yes?" he questioned instead.

**_And sweetest, in the Gale, is heard,_ **

For the year and a half that they'd had him, Harry, newly renamed Harry James Potter upon his adoption, had been a joy to have around.

He was incredibly smart if a bit odd for a baby.

Remus, who'd been introduced to the child after his adoption had watched the boy talk to the cat, he'd believed it to be just a child's wild imagination, but if he'd asked either Lily or James, they would have said otherwise.

He would watch how the adults would do something, and then copy it, which had led to a few issues when he had observed them doing a spell, grabbing whoever's wand was in reach at the time and copying it.

This led to keeping their wands out of reach of curious hands.

However, on this night, that would prove to be a fatal mistake.

"Lily, it's _him!_ Take Harry and run, I'll hold him off!" James cried, watching as his lovely wife snatched the child up off the floor and ran up the stairs.

Lily slammed the door of the nursery, quickly frisking her pockets to find her wand, before realising she had left it in their bedroom.

She quickly barricaded the door with anything she could find and gently placed Harry into his crib.

"I'm so, _so_ sorry, Harry," she spoke.

Shaking her head, she forcefully cut into her palm, using a sharp piece of metal that she had grabbed on the way down the hallway and got to work writing runes along the ground surrounding the crib.

Loud banging began at the bedroom door and Lily hurried to finish the last rune.

She stood up just as the door gave in and the drawers that she'd used to barricade the room was sent flying into the opposite wall.

"Not Harry," she began, voice wobbling, "not Harry, _please,_ not Harry!"

Three chances to stand aside were given to her, three chances she refused, and then her body met the ground.

Harry stood in his crib, and he stared at the snakelike man in his room.

This man had just killed Miss Lily.

He frowned and began to open his mouth before a bright white light enveloped him as the same green light that had killed her was shot at him.

The light bounced off the barrier, and Harry was knocked unconscious from the rebounded energy.

Voldemort was dead.

Come the morning, little Harry would be found by his adoptive mother's sister.

**_And sore must be the storm,_ **

It had been eleven years, eight months, and fifteen days since that October night, not that Harry remembered much of it.

The twelve, almost thirteen-year-old sat in Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour with his best friends, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley.

It was sixteen days until his birthday, but this day had been the only day that they were all able to meet up until August.

The three children sat around a table, sharing a large sundae while talking about various subjects, unaware of a man watching them.

This middle-aged man was leant up against the counter, the shop owner, Florean, watched as he watched the children.

"You know that is a bit creepy, staring at children like that, even if one of them _is_ the boy-who-lived, Nathan."

He sighed and ran a hand over his face then turned to face the older man.

"Dad," he began, "Do you remember, almost thirteen years ago I came to you and told you that we, the Department, had done something _awful?"_

The question threw him for a moment, and he raised an eyebrow in silent question at his son.

"We _may_ have accidentally kidnapped a baby, who was later adopted by the Potters," he admitted.

There was silence for a minute as they both stared at the boy who was laughing at a joke one of his friends had said.

"Dear Lord, son," he looked at Nathan with wide eyes, "You do realise that someone needs to tell him?"

"I _know,_ we've been trying to get hold of him since the Potters passed away, but a certain old man has been blocking our every move. Something about there being no need for the Department's interests in him."

"That sounds..." he trailed off, unable to think of words to express himself.

"If the Potters chosen guardian for him was unable to look after him for any reason, his custody should have gone directly to the Department of Mysteries, where our boss would find a suitable home for him."

He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking.

"I'm going to go grab him and take him to the Department, he needs to know."

Florean nodded in agreement, patting the younger man on the shoulder, and pushing him to move.

Nathan gave a small nod, he left the counter and walked up to the table with the three children, he stopped at the edge of the table, clearing his throat to grab their attention.

"Good afternoon, Mr Potter, my name is Nathan Fortescue and I'm with the Department of Mysteries," he paused, taking out an identification card and showing it to the small group, "I was wondering if we could have an hour or two of your time, we've been trying to get hold of you for quite a few years now. We have something to tell you that has something to do with your parents."

Harry looked at the man, and then at his friends, obviously wanting to go, but unwilling to just abandon his friends.

"Harry, it's alright, we understand," Hermione spoke, Ron nodding in agreement.

He gave a shaky nod and got up, facing the Agent.

"Alright, I'll come with you."

**_That could abash the little Bird that kept so many warm,_ **

Harry sat in a cosy looking office, watching the man who'd come up to him as he grabbed a large looking file and passed it over to him.

He looked at Nathan in confusion, before looking down at the cover. In bold red, the cover read 'Top Secret'.

"Am I _allowed_ to be reading this?" he asked the man, who nodded and gestured to the file.

Harry opened it and stared in shock, thereupon the paper was his name, he quickly flipped through, becoming distressed as the pages passed.

"I'm an alien?" he whispered, tears sprung to his eyes as he read another sentence, "I was _kidnapped?"_

Tears began falling as he read more of the file, his mind wandering, did he have parents out there who were desperately trying to find him? Did the day pass where he was born, only for them to mourn him as they could not find him?

He took a shuddering breath and, shaking his head, continued to read on, occasionally wiping tears from his eyes.

Three hours passed before he had finished reading the file, Harry felt emotionally exhausted after the ordeal, but he had one thing on his mind.

Lifting his hand to the back of his neck, he unclasped the necklace that he'd had for what appeared to be his whole life, although he now knew better. A burst of magic filled the room and Harry appeared to shrink.

Nathan watched as he made his way to a small mirror in the office, pendant grasped tightly in his left fist, he gasped, and Nathan could understand why.

It's not every day you go from looking like a very small twelve, almost thirteen-year-old to someone who looks like they could be five, six if you pushed it.

"I'm so _small,"_ he muttered.

He gave the boy some time to look at himself in the mirror before he tugged him away.

"The Department of Mysteries has forcefully taken custody of you; the Ministry can't argue with it. One of the other Agents has gotten your things from your adoptive relative's house."

Harry looked at him in shock, he no longer had to go to Au- to _Petunia's_ house?

"I'm sure you'd like to see your new rooms, wouldn't you?" he questioned him.

Harry nodded shyly.

"I'd like that."

**_I’ve heard it in the chilliest land,_ **

It had been a week since his world had been turned completely upside down and Harry was enjoying his newfound freedom.

Sure, he always had an Agent from the Department of Mysteries trailing after him, but that was nothing compared to the constant chores he'd endured at the Dursleys.

He headed down the streets of Diagon Alley, the pendant around his neck shining in the midmorning sunlight, intent on going to the stationery shop to grab a sketchbook. He had always wanted to learn to draw and so he would.

It was as he was turning the corner that something barrelled into him, knocking him over. He hissed in pain as he landed awkwardly on his wrist, knowing it would bruise.

A soft whining, along with a wet nose poking into his arm made him look up at what had bumped into him.

A large, scruffy black dog lay next to him, bumping his head into his arm and huffing every so often, his tail thumped on the ground in apparent happiness.

Harry stood up, careful of his wrist, gratefully accepting the arm offered to help him up by his escort, "Thank you."

The agent nodded and he continued on his way, aware of the dog that was now following him.

When he entered the shop, the dog remained outside, and once he left the shop, he continued following him.

"Looks like you've picked up a friend there, Harry," Miss Claire, the lady who worked at the reception area for the Department told him as he entered the building.

"Yeah, don't know where he's come from, but he started following me in the alley," he stated.

The blonde-haired woman looked over at the dog, frowning for a moment, before walking around and looking at the dog.

"I think I will take him for a while," she began, watching as the dog began to appear nervous, "Make sure he's healthy, you never know what he could be carrying. If he does have anything, we're going to need to make sure it can't spread to you."

"Okay," Harry chirped, petting the dog behind the ears, "Don't worry, all the people are really nice here!" he attempted to comfort the dog, who had begun whining.

Claire pulled the dog behind her as she walked into an office just behind the counter, she locked the door behind her and spun around to face the dog, pulling out her wand as she went.

"Change back, _Animagus,_ or I will force you," her voice was steady and her gaze serious.

The dog shivered before relenting, he rapidly grew into a man, one who had escaped from prison and was currently being hunted by law enforcement.

"Sirius Black," she spat, walking forwards, and digging her wand into his neck.

"No, _no,_ wait!" he cried out in a frenzy as he realised, she was about to say a spell, the Department of Mysteries was not known for their mercy after all, "I was framed! I'm innocent, _please_ I just want to make sure he's okay!"

She glared at him for a moment, then pulled back her wand.

"Will you consent to Veritaserum to prove this?"

_"God, yes!"_

**_And on the strangest Sea,_ **

Harry was doing his Charms homework in the bedroom he had been provided by the Department.

The room was decorated in soft blues and purples, which he really enjoyed. It had rather basic furniture, with a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a chest of draws. At the end of the bed sat his school trunk, and a stuffed fox toy lay on the duvet. There was also a stand near the window for Hedwig to rest on when she came in from her flights and hunts.

It was a basic room, but it was the best he'd ever had and was all his, Harry loved it.

His pendant was also off, as he saw no reason to wear it in a place where everyone knew he wasn’t as human as he appeared to be.

He did however wear it whenever he left the Department and would also be wearing it while at Hogwarts, for his safety, of course.

A knock came from the door and Harry paused in his writing to turn to face it.

"Come in."

The door opened and Miss Claire, the receptionist entered, followed by a now very clean dog, who was now sporting a collar.

"Harry, this is Sirius Black, an Animagus who escaped from prison," she began, "We thought he was a Death Eater who'd sold out your adoptive parents, however, it has now been shown that this is false and that he had been framed."

The dog changed back to a man who had long black hair and grey eyes, he stood off to the side nervously.

He didn’t seem phased at his size, as though he expected him to be small.

"He's also the person that Lily and James picked to be your godfather."

Harry blinked, "Hello."

"Hello, Pup," Sirius greeted nervously.

"Sirius will also be going with you to Hogwarts, in his Animagus form. Your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher knew him from before however, so the collar he wears removes the traits that out him as an Animagus, and also cover his scent so he won't be recognised," Claire said.

"Wait, why would his scent need to be changed?" Harry questioned.

"Remus is a werewolf," Sirius muttered sadly.

After an awkward moment of silence, Claire clapped her hands, "Right then, you need to pick out a name for your new dog," she spoke, "And then you two can get to know each other."

"Wait, why does he get to pick _my_ name?" Sirius questioned.

At the same time, Harry said, _"Snuffles."_

**_Yet, never, in Extremity,_ **

On September first, Harry boarded the Hogwarts express, with Snuffles, a leash was held loosely in one hand as he and his friends settled in an almost empty compartment.

"Say, Harry, mate, is that a _Grim?"_ Ron questioned, looking at the large black dog nervously.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Ron, Grims don't leave their churches," Hermione spoke.

"He's an Irish Wolfhound," he spoke quickly to stop an argument from starting, "His name is Snuffles."

The dog gave a huff through his nose as if agreeing with him.

Ron snorted, "Only you can see a dog that big and go 'oh, let's call him Snuffles,' Harry."

He rolled his eyes and the three teenagers delved into a conversation to pass the time, grabbing some sweets from the lady who pushed the cart, and attempting to not wake the sleeping Professor and later dog too.

Then the train screeched to a halt.

"What's going on? We’re not there already are we?" questioned Ron.

Snuffles perked his head up and began growling as a cold feeling began spreading across the compartment.

"I don't think-" But what Harry was going to say was cut off as the door was yanked open by a figure wearing a cloak.

The three teens, dog, and now awake Professor all leant back into their seats as it glided into the compartment. In the corner of his eyes, Harry could just about see that the Professor was trying to grab his wand.

The unknown creature came to a stop in front of him, he could feel his hearts racing as it reached out to him.

His vision went white and he could hear screaming, so much screaming.

"Who's screaming?" he questioned.

Then he knew no more.

**_It asked a crumb, of Me._ **

Waking up in the infirmary was not what he had been expecting on the first day back.

Snuffles lay on the end of his bed, whining as he noticed that Harry was awake.

"Here, Mr Potter, eat this," Madame Pomfrey said, passing him a chunk of chocolate, after she wondered over at the sound of Snuffles’ whining.

He did as she asked and looked around in confusion, something was... _wrong._

"How are you feeling?" she asked, "Bloody ministry, sending Dementors to guard a school I _swear,"_ she muttered not quite under her breath, making him snicker.

"I'm feeling a bit sad, Ma'am," he admitted.

"Yes, well, I'm not surprised," she checked him over with a spell before clicking her tongue, "Everything seems fine, you will eat your dinner here and if you are still okay, I'll let you go back to your dorm tonight."

Harry nodded watching as she walked away, before looking around in confusion once more.

Something seemed to be off, something that wasn't caused by those Dementor things and he couldn't tell what.

Snuffles gave him a questioning huff.

"I don't know, Snuffles, something's wrong, I can _feel_ it," he admitted, "But I don't know what."

In the shadows of the hallway connected to the hospital wing, something moved, and it took a suit of armour with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_Poem used in line breaks; “Hope is The Thing With Feathers” – Emily Dickinson_ **


	2. Chapter 2

It was a rather sunny day on the Hogwarts grounds, a nice treat for her students, even if they were avoiding the Dementors circling the grounds.

It was while the students were all in their lessons that something strange happened.

On the outskirts of the forbidden forest, a blue box began to appear. It sat there for a few minutes after it had finished materialising and then the door was flung open.

"Doctor, where _are_ we?" questioned the woman who had just walked out.

"Oh, let's see, shall we?" the Doctor muttered as he walked out behind her, closing the door as he went, "Big castle, spooky forest, _oh,_ nice lake."

He walked around the area, and his companion followed, looking around as they went.

"Oh, there seems to be some sort of pitch, I wonder if-"

" _Oi,_ how'd you get 'ere?" questioned a very large and hairy man.

"Oh, I apologise, we seem to have gotten lost, could you tell us where we are?"

The man blinked down at them, "Well now, 'ow d'ya get lost an' end up a' 'ogwarts?" he muttered, before looking over to the castle, "C'mon then, I reckon tha' Dumbledore woul' be interested in this."

He walked away, clearly expecting them to follow, the Doctor shrugged and followed after him.

"Come on then, Rose, let's keep up," he stated, "Before he accidentally leaves us behind."

She looked at the giant of a man's legs before jogging over to them.

They entered the castle and stared in awe as they walked, paintings moved and talked as they went down the hallways, often pointing over at them.

As they were walking, the classes let out and their paths were flooded by children and teenagers, all rushing about. Some of them looked at the two strangers before shrugging it off and continuing to their lessons.

A corner was turned, and the Doctor froze in shock.

The feeling was weak, but it was there and familiar. His eyes zeroed in on a small figure walking down the hall, sandwiched between two other people.

He didn't realise that he was shaking, nor that his eyes were filling with tears. He _knew_ that child, he had been the subject of many of his nightmares and sleepless nights wondering what had happened.

_"Zeta?"_

The Doctor stood and watched the trio walk past them and down the hall, taking note of the way the air around the smallest boy seemed to warp.

Focusing on that, he managed to see past what appeared to be some sort of perception filter.

He was even smaller than he first appeared.

_So young._

He felt the tears in his eyes pool just a bit more.

He continued to watch until they had gone out of view, forcing himself not to chase after them, or rather, after him.

"Doctor, are you alright?" the sound of Rose's voice bought him back to the present, he looked over at her, then back to where the small group had disappeared to.

"I'm fine," he stated.

"You're shaking," she countered.

The Doctor looked down at his hand and realised that he was indeed shaking.

"I'll be fine, let's go, that rather large man is waiting for us to catch up," he said, gesturing to the man, who was indeed waiting for them a few feet away at the bottom of a staircase.

Rose looked at him with concern, but eventually nodded and began walking over to the man, the Doctor looked back to the end of the hallway before following her.

**_He's already picking out new bedroom colours for him._ **

Rose and the Doctor were led up three staircases, all of which moved, down seven corridors and past a gargoyle statue, where they went up one final set of stairs.

The large man knocked on the oaken door.

"You may enter," came a response from the opposite side of the door, causing the large man to open it and usher them inside.

"Ah, Hagrid, how are you?" questioned an ancient-looking man.

"'M doin' well, Dumbledore," the man, now identified as Hagrid replied, "bu' I foun' these two wonderin' the grounds."

The older man, Dumbledore, peered over his glasses at the two of them before turning to Hagrid.

"Thank you for bringing them to me, Hagrid, I'm sure you have a lesson to prepare for."

"Aye, tha' I do," he agreed, turning to leave, before pausing at the door, "Nice t'meet ya both."

"You as well," the Doctor returned.

"Yeah," Rose smiled, "You too."

Hagrid beamed down at them before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"So," Dumbledore began, leaning forwards to look at the two, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Rose pointed to the Doctor, "Ask him, he's the one who bought us here."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "I'm the Doctor and this is my companion, Rose Tyler, we travel around and usually stumble upon unusual problems."

"Ah," Dumbledore nodded, "And do these 'unusual problems' often lead you to magical areas?"

 _"Magic?"_ Rose blurted out.

Dumbledore looked at her in amusement, "Indeed."

"Not typically," the Doctor began, "I do tend to stay away from you Wizards and Witches, your lot don't tend to like me."

"I see," Dumbledore leant back in his chair and rubbed at his beard.

Rose thought its length was rather impressive.

"Well," he spoke, "I suppose your timing couldn't have been better then."

"Yeah?" Rose asked.

"There's something in the school that's been draining the wards, we believe this same thing has been taking the suits of armours and the statues," his words were hesitant.

The Doctor stared at him, "That's not all, is it?"

Dumbledore sighed, his eyes showing his age, "No, it's not," he agreed, "One of our Hufflepuff students was admitted to the hospital wing for major magical drainage."

"It's harming the students?" Rose questioned.

"Yes," he admitted, "It's taking their magic and draining it, leaving them exhausted if this continues long term, it could lead to a coma or even death."

There was a sharp intake of breath from the Doctor, Dumbledore and Rose turned to look at him.

"We'll help," he stated, his voice hard.

"Then I must thank you," the elderly man said.

"Don't thank us just yet."

**_Hufflepuffs, the go-to for background character pain._ **

Rose sat on a chair in the shared living room of the small apartment-like quarters that they'd been given to stay in, watching the Doctor move about, scanning everything in sight with his screwdriver.

"Alright you, spill," she ordered.

The Doctor paused where he was scanning a book that appeared to be silently screaming and looked over at her in confusion, _"Pardon?"_

"You looked like you'd seen a ghost when you saw those three kids."

The Doctor sighed and slid the book back into its place on the bookshelf, then walked over to sit on the sofa opposite her, slipping his screwdriver in his pocket as he went.

"The boy in the middle," he started, pain lacing his tone, "That's," he trailed off and Rose saw tears forming in his eyes once again.

"Doctor-" she began but was cut off as he continued.

"When I was younger," he stared at the fire that was lit in the fireplace, seemingly the only source of warmth in the entire room, "When I was younger and still in our equivalent of school, there was," he sighed.

Rose watched, silent, unknowing on how to give the comfort that he obviously needed.

"Time travel makes things happen in strange orders, Rose, you have to understand that I was in my early hundreds at the time, over seven hundred years ago and he was only _one_ when it happened."

"Doctor, you're not making any sense," Rose stated, confused.

"He was kidnapped."

The three words caused a chill to run up her spine.

"What do you mean?"

"We were in our dorm room, I was finishing up an assignment for one of my classes," he took a shaky breath, "My roommate was, well, it doesn't matter what he was doing, but Zeta," he hesitated for a moment, before continuing "My son, was on my bed, chewing on some random knickknack that my roommate had found lying about."

There was a moment of silence, where they stared at each other.

The Doctor shook his head, clearing the memories away, "But none of that matters, anymore, I suppose."

"I still don't see how any of this relates to that boy?" Rose questioned gently.

He took a deep, shuddering breath, before leaning back into the sofa.

"I don't know how he got here, and I don't know why, but I will find out," he muttered, before looking directly at Rose, "That's _him,_ Rose, he's older, but it's definitely him."

"That's Zeta."

**_-And they were roommates._ **

The following few days passed in typical Hogwarts style, rather chaotically.

The school took the news that the Doctor and Rose were there to help 'remove an infestation of an as-of-yet unknown magical creature' rather well.

Many came up to them, demanding to know every little detail about their lives, after a while of this, Rose had taken to leaving the room whenever a student began walking over to her.

While they had yet to see any sign of the being that was causing the energy drainage, they had been making the most out of their time there.

Rose spent awhile each day going over the books in the library but was sorely disappointed when she learnt how much of them were theory-based academics.

The Doctor spent this time watching over Zeta, who he'd learnt was being called 'Harry Potter'.

Rose said that he was stalking him.

During this watching, he'd learnt a few things.

He had an owl named 'Hedwig', some sort of fabric that turned him invisible, and he had a dog which something called 'the Department of Mysteries' had basically ordered him to take with him named 'Snuffles'.

It also appeared that he was actively learning dog, as he seemed to understand what he was saying to him, considering that their species _could_ learn non-traditional languages it didn't surprise him, or that could just be that the dog was hyper-aware.

The Doctor sighed and silently followed him as he went to his next lesson.

**_Doctor, no, that's kind of creepy._ **

Harry groaned as Snuffles jumped on him, and opened his eyes, seeing the early morning light.

"Walk time, I'm guessing?"

The dog rolled his eyes and gave a bark, which Harry understood as a; "Why else would I wake you on a perfectly good Saturday morning?"

He groaned again and rolled to the edge of the bed, turning to glare at his godfather, "Why can't you just walk yourself?"

"Because you're supposed to be responsible for me?" came a mocking bark.

He gave a deep sigh, _"Right."_

Harry slipped his shoes on and threw a robe over his pyjamas, not bothering to change as he would likely go back to sleep for a few more hours once he'd walked his godfather.

He clicked the leash into place and slipped out of his room, grunting out a half-asleep greeting to the absolutely insane morning people of his house.

You would think that Harry, being a rather young child, would be full of energy, but the truth was that he just enjoyed sleep a bit too much.

He was almost to the door leading to the inner courtyard, not wanting to go to the outer grounds with all the Dementors floating about when he bumped into someone.

"'M sorry," he muttered, giving a rather loud yawn after he spoke.

"It's alright," a feminine voice spoke, sounding amused, "Just woke up?"

"'M dog," he gestured in the direction of Sirius, "Walk."

The woman he'd bumped into began chuckling, although she was trying to hold them in.

Harry looked up at her, she was blonde and sort of familiar.

He frowned, before sluggishly remembering where he'd seen her, "You're that lady who's here for the infestation?"

"Yes, but the only infestation I see is one of hormones," she quipped.

Harry snickered slightly, before holding the hand that wasn't holding Sirius' leash out to her, "I'm Harry and this mutt here is Snuffles."

"Nice to meet you," she smiled, "I'm Rose."

**_Don't forget to walk your Godfathers, people._ **

Rose and the Doctor walked down a corridor in comfortable silence, keeping an eye out for anything out of place when they heard it.

It was a sound of metal scraping on metal.

They looked at each other, before quickly turning to look at the door they'd heard the sound come from.

The two slowly and quietly crept up to the door, peering through the small gap that had been left where the door hadn't shut properly.

Inside the room, there were multiple suits of armour and statues, all of which had glowing blue eyes.

Around them all was what appeared to be a multicoloured cloud, which had small tubes, which made it look like some sort of mutated spider, connecting to the floor and walls.

An orange glow which looked almost like a liquid trailed up the tubes and into the cloud.

The armour and statues all appeared to be alive, moving and interacting with each other.

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other and then back at the scene.

It seemed that they had found the cause of the energy drainage.

**_Hogwarts is now a Capri Sun._ **

Somehow Rose had managed to talk him into going and watching a game of the school's sport, Quidditch, he believed it was called.

The fact that Zeta was playing in a role called the 'Seeker' may have had something to do with that, he admitted, if only to himself.

And so, one cold afternoon, he found himself walking down to the pitch.

He was a bit late, as he'd been setting up some monitors, which would track the movement of the cloud-like being. He'd adjusted them to be able to withstand the energy output around the school so that they didn't blow up.

The Doctor paused about halfway to the pitch, staring up at the figures on brooms many feet in the air.

His hearts leapt to his throat as he saw Harry in a deep nosedive heading straight at the ground.

Harry gave a sharp twitch upwards, seemingly panicking for an unknown reason, and the Doctor realised that he'd been in complete control of the dive.

He also realised that he'd projected his distress and that he had felt it.

The Doctor continued his walk to the pitch, deciding that he had a new _least_ favourite game.

**_Flying Sticks and Danger Balls; the Game._ **

It was lunchtime when the monitors went off.

The Doctor and Rose rushed to follow its path as it seemed to go all around the castle.

Finally, the being went through the doors to the outer grounds and headed for the forbidden forest.

The two followed quickly and quietly, avoiding the local wildlife and centaurs.

The cloud seemed to completely avoid the area that the Acromantulas resided in, whether that was a conscious or subconscious choice was unclear.

Finally, it stopped in a clearing, in which resided a lake.

Around that lake were hundreds of cloaked figures, all of which gave off the feeling of total despair.

The Doctor and Rose hid behind a tree, keeping just outside of the Dementors reach and watched.

The Dementors made an awful screeching noise, before flinging themselves at the cloud.

The tubes which made it look more spider-like than cloud-like bubbled out of its body, attaching themselves to the Dementors, a pale grey glow began travelling up the tubes, and the Dementors that had not been caught by the tubes began to flee.

The ones that were attached seemed to disintegrate once there was no more energy to be taken from them.

When the unknown being moved to chase after the fleeing Dementors, Rose and the Doctor slowly crept out of the forest and back to the castle.

 _"Well,"_ Rose began once they were back inside, "That was disturbing."

The Doctor was about to respond when the monitors went off again, signifying that it was back inside.

A few moments later, a shout was heard and the two were racing off to help.

**_*Slaps Dementors* Come get y'all juice!_ **

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Snuffles were walking down a corridor, heading for an empty room to spend their free lesson in.

Ron wanted to play a game of chess, Hermione wanted to study a book she'd found in the library, Snuffles wanted to plan a prank on Professor Snape, and Harry wanted a nap, but he was not going to admit that out loud.

They walked into the room that they'd been in countless times prior and stopped in the doorway.

There was a cloud in the classroom.

Harry blinked, the purple seemed to shift, giving him the impression that it had blinked back.

He tilted his head, it rotated.

He turned around to ask Hermione a question, only to see all three of the others in the small group's faces slowly turn to one of horror, "What's wrong?"

Ron pointed behind him to where the cloud was, Harry turned back around as Hermione screamed.

 _"Oh,"_ he muttered, throwing himself to the ground as its newly formed appendages tried to pierce him.

The three students ran around the room, attempting to dodge whatever it was trying to do, as Sirius stood at the doorway, barking as loud as he could to hopefully attract attention.

Eventually, Harry found himself cornered and could only stare fearfully at the thing.

He was vaguely aware that Hermione and Ron had managed to get out into the hallway and were screaming for help.

Harry closed his eyes and turned his head away, not wanting to see as it got closer.

He felt it brush up against his face and shuddered, it was slimy, before he heard a yell from an unknown voice, followed by a strange whirring sound.

The creature hissed and Harry felt it remove its appendage from his face, he opened his eyes slightly and saw as it fled from the room.

He collapsed to his hands and knees, shaking.

He was only vaguely aware when someone pulled him onto their lap, rubbing his back and whispering words of comfort to him in a language he did not know.

He could hear Hermione and Ron talking to someone and could hear Sirius' whining, yet as he calmed down, he found himself unwilling to move from the rather protective hold of this unknown person.

His face was buried in the person's chest and from there he could smell what this person smelt like.

They smelt familiar, like an old forgotten memory, as though he should _know_ them.

"Who are you?" he questioned, his voice hinting at his tiredness thanks to the adrenaline leaving him.

"I-" the voice was masculine, the arms around him tightened slightly and the man holding him swallowed, as though holding back tears.

Harry didn't understand why he was on the verge of tears because of him.

"'M sorry, don't cry," he muttered.

"It's not that," the man whispered against his head, he felt a puff of air against his head where he was looking down at him.

A hand ran down the back of his head, smoothing down his hair, the man took a deep breath before speaking once more.

"I'm your dad."


End file.
